Santa Anita Promotes Boxing

Horse racing and boxing, two dissimilar sports, came together at this past weekend.

A boxing ring was constructed at the eastern end of the Santa Anita grandstands, where on Saturday afternoon two fighters who have mega-fights coming up next weekend shadow boxed, signed autographs and did media interviews.

The boxers were Juan Manuel Marquez, who faces Manny Pacquiao next Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and Timothy Bradley, who headlines that night’s undercard.

A crowd of at least 1,000 gathered around the ring at Santa Anita to see the fighters up close and hopefully get an autograph and maybe even a photo.

“My friends and I showed up an hour early so we could get a spot close to the ring,” said Antonio Alaniz, who works at at Duarte and First Avenue. “It was kind of a wild scene but we enjoyed it. We got Marquez to autograph our posters, and that’s what we really wanted.”

As part of the promotion, 10,000 posters were handed out to fans as they entered the racetrack. They also got an entry form for a drawing for two tickets to attend the fight in Las Vegas. The winner was announced by Marquez later in the afternoon.

This was the first such boxing promotion ever at Santa Anita, and it just so happened to occur on the same day the Breeders’ Cup took place at Churchill Downs at Louisville, KY.

Big Day at Santa Anita

With fans able to wager on live races at Santa Anita and televised races from Churchill Downs, it was going to be a big day at Santa Anita anyway. And the boxing promotion no doubt helped boost the on-track attendance to 16,596.

The idea of staging a promotional event for next Saturday’s HBO pay-per-view fight card came from Southern California sports PR czar Steve Brener of Brener-Zwikel and Associates.

Santa Anita is a client of Brener-Zwikel, so Brener worked with Mike Willman, the track’s publicity director, in putting on the event.

 “When Steve called and asked about doing this, I thought it was a great idea,” said Bob Arum, the fight’s promoter who attended Saturday’s event.

Santa Anita President George Haines, who gave his approval to put on the event, said he also thought it was a great idea.

Although Arum was impressed that so many people came to see the fighters, he said, “We did this mainly for the publicity value.”

Arum got that. Photographers and cameramen lined the ring.

Arum said the live gate was sold out two weeks after the fight was announced and will generate $11.7 million. What Arum is now hoping for is a huge pay-per-view audience.

This fight is being billed as Pacquiao-Marquez III because this is the third time these two boxers have met. The first fight ended in a draw. Pacquiao won the second with a controversial split decision. Marquez believes he actually won both fights.

Bradley, undefeated at 27-0 with 11 knockouts, fights former world champion Joel Casamayor on the undercard and could conceivably be another opponent for Pacquiao down the road.

Ideally, this promotion would have had both Marquez and Pacquiao taking part. But getting two of the top three fighters on the card isn’t bad,

As Bradley walked along the track guardrail after a visit to the Winners’ Circle, he said, “This is great. What a beautiful setting. Whoever came up with this idea is a genius.”